African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital Anthology

William Stanley Braithwaite, "Two on the Cliffs" (1901)

Two on the cliffs by the purple sea ,
With the waves unbound and the sea -winds free ;
Wound in the mesh of its sobbing tone.
And the tangling swirl of the sun-kissed foam .
Two hand in hand by the glad , old sea ,
With but one sweet dream for you and me
.
The sea's soft sigh on reef and shore,
Two hearts keep rythm for ever more ,
Blue of the sea and the sky are one,
And two hearts beating in unison .
O rhyme of the ages, sweep of the sea,
And two souls thrall'd in its mystery.

Published in Colored American Magazine, September 1901

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